


Eels (Really)

by Schrodingers_Rufus



Category: From Beyond (1986)
Genre: Body Horror, Ficlet, Flash Fic, Gen, Interdimensional Eel Creatures, Prompt Fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-11 22:54:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16861594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schrodingers_Rufus/pseuds/Schrodingers_Rufus
Summary: Originally posted to Tumblr on October 24, 2016.Prompt: After the events of From Beyond, Crawford trapped in pink filter hell with the astral sea creatures. Bonus points if they don't attack him anymore. (Because he belongs to that dimension now/he's technically 'dead'/Because he's not entirely human anymore etc)





	Eels (Really)

Crawford cringed as his fingers slipped against his makeshift screwdriver. Rebuilding the Resonator on the other side was more difficult than it had any right to be, what with the general lack of infrastructure…and the slime…but he supposed that it was the only option he had, besides giving up and becoming like Pretorius.   
  
At least any more than he already had.   
  
He brought a hand up against the stump of his pineal antenna, slowly growing back after Katherine’s bite. He considered cutting it off again himself, but memories of the pain stopped him. Maybe he’d learn to control it this time. Maybe it would just scar over and stop growing. He scratched at it, wincing when his fingernails caught against the edge of a scab.   
  
Something brushed against his hand. Crawford recoiled, dropping the screwdriver with a wet thump. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw something disappear behind a rock.   
  
“Show yourself!” Crawford was the largest, most imposing monster he’d seen near the Pretorius house–a surprising, but not entirely unpleasant development–so he supposed it made sense to defend his territory. (Even thinking it felt wrong; he couldn’t defend anybody, much less a ‘territory’.) He continued, voice weaker, “You’d…better leave.”

A small head, lined with rows of narrow teeth, peered over the rock. Crawford let out a breath. Only an eel. (He tried to think of them as “eels”; better than the other obvious visual comparison.)   
  
The eel floated closer, tail-fin moving like it was swimming through water rather than air. 

“N-now don’t…Get back!  _Don’t–!”_  
  
It gently nudged Crawford’s hand with its head. 

Crawford froze. 

It did it again, running its fragile, mucus-lined body along Crawford’s hand like…like a cat asking to be pet. 

“H-hello, there.” It paused for a second when he spoke, before quickly resuming its route, undulating so that it ran under Crawford’s hand again. “Do you…is that something you’d like me to..?”

He experimentally gave it a scratch behind the gills. It didn’t seem to object. 

“I…I need to get back to work. Is it…could you…?” He pulled his hand away and backed towards the Resonator. 

It followed him, nudging his hand again. 

With a sigh, Crawford resumed petting, trying hard not to think about what else the ‘eel’ looked like.  


End file.
